How Companies Can Attract and Retain Top Talent

MeraJob September 8, 2016

We’re looking at a very different kind of job market today—the one in which jobseekers have far more options and opportunities than they did ever before. With that in mind, it becomes increasingly important for employers to attend to what they need. It is a fairly straightforward assessment that the success of a company depends on its people. Essentially, that boils down to attracting and retaining top talent.

Countless surveys seem to indicate that employees rank the opportunity for career growth significantly higher than salary and employment benefits. Unfortunately, employers still seem to believe that the latter is more enticing.

At the second HR Round Table on ‘Attracting and Retaining Best Top Talent” organised by People and Management in New Delhi, Pallav Sinha, Founder & CEO of MeraJob.in said, “Today, data is very easily available. The National Career Service has 36 million registered jobseekers, clearly signifying numbers who have intent to work better. Success is a unique combination of skill, experience, science and art; it’s people who really drive success.”

It’s about time that companies shift the focus to their employees’ goals in order to help their own businesses. There is nothing quite as damaging for a company as a high turnover rate, and nothing quite as beneficial as retaining talent. Here are some things that can help attract and retain top talent.

1. Focus on quality. Hire the right person for the job

It’s important to focus on the candidate’s potential rather than on his/her past. Assessing the candidate’s soft skills such as ability to work in a team, flexibility, lateral thinking, is more important than looking at the qualifications and experiences (and even technical skills). An efficient pre-screening mechanism is non-negotiable.

2. Reduce the hiring time

More often than not, the process to hire a new employee is far too tedious and long. The pitfall is that you will inevitably lose out on worthy employees who have little reason to wait. Streamline the hiring process, cut down on the rounds of interviews and bring your employees on board faster.

3. Focus on retention by identifying what the employee needs

Employees like to be kept in the loop. Company news, plans, goals—employees want to be in the know of what’s happening in the company. Keep them clued in.

They want to know how they fit into the larger picture. Define the employees’ roles clearly so that they know exactly how they’re contributing.

They want opportunities to grow. Career growth is typically ranked higher than salary on employees’ list of reasons for taking up a job offer. Are you giving your employees the chance to grow?

Salary growth is important, too. There has to be sufficient scope for that.

Rewards and recognition play an important role in retaining employees.

They want their views and inputs to be taken seriously. Being dismissive of employees’ suggestions and opinions can prove to be detrimental.

Work culture and relationships with co-workers matter more than you think.

You may be hiring the best talent out there, but it doesn’t add up to much if you’re not doing everything you can to retain it. Employers must urgently shift their focus onto factors that can control the attrition rate.

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